Islanders 7, Flyers 4

No one expected New York to head into its All-Star break on top of the Eastern Conference — not even coach Jack Capuano.

He knows his club has played surprisingly well, though he claims he doesn’t know just how well.

That’s OK. He likes what he sees, and he wants it to continue when the Islanders get back on the ice next week.

“I don’t even know our record,” Capuano said after New York’s victory over Philadelphia on Monday. “We come to the rink and we get better every day. I know we’ve won some games and things are going well for our team right now, but we can’t lose sight of how we need to play.”

Nikolay Kulemin had two goals and an assist, and the Islanders reclaimed first place in the East with their latest divisional win. New York is assured of being on top of the Metropolitan when play resumes next week.

The Islanders, 15-2 against divisional foes, are off until they host the New York Rangers next Tuesday. New York is 16-4 overall at home.

“The thing about our hockey team is believablility and trust. Accountability and leadership,” Capuano said. “No one gave us a chance, and that is why you play the game. I am very pleased up until this point with our hockey club. We’ve done a lot of good things, not only winning hockey games but how we’re winning games and how we’re playing within the structure and the framework.”

Michael Grabner, John Tavares, and Nick Leddy each had a goal and an assist.

Grabner gave the Islanders the lead on their first shot, and Kulemin made it 3-0 with a short-handed tally on New York’s first shot of the second period. Kulemin also scored in between, and Josh Bailey and Tavares found the net in the Islanders’ three-goal middle period.

Leddy restored the Islanders’ three-goal lead 5:45 into the third.

All-Star Jaroslav Halak made 25 saves for his 25th win this season. The Islanders (31-14-1), who have won five of six, lead Tampa Bay by one point in the East. New York bounced back from a lackluster 6-4 loss at Montreal on Saturday with its second game in three outings of at least six goals.

“We wanted to have a bounce-back game and go into the break on a high,” Bailey said. “It will be a much-deserved break, but we’re going to want to pick up where we left off.”

Last season’s team went only 13-19-9 at home and missed the playoffs after making it the year before.

“It’s no secret it was a big disappointment last year and one of the reasons why we didn’t have much success,” Tavares said.

Defensemen Mark Streit and Michael Del Zotto had goals for Philadelphia in the second period, Claude Giroux made it 5-3 in the first minute of the third, and Chris VandeVelde brought the Flyers within 6-4 with 2:24 left.

It wasn’t enough to help Rob Zepp, who made his fifth straight start but was yanked in the second period in favor of Ray Emery after allowing four goals on 20 shots. Philadelphia (18-22-7) has lost four of six overall and seven of eight on the road.

Anders Lee added an empty-net goal for New York, which had 41 shots.

Devils 5, Sharks 2

Mike Cammalleri scored a tiebreaking, power-play goal late in the second period to help New Jersey beat San Jose.

Steve Bernier, Jordin Tootoo, Travis Zajac and Jacob Josefson also scored for the Devils, who bookended wins over Los Angeles and San Jose around a lopsided loss in Anaheim on what proved to be a successful California swing.

Cory Schneider made 34 saves one game after being knocked after getting hit in the head by a puck.

Joe Pavelski and Matt Nieto scored for the Sharks, who have lost five of six home games and have already surpassed last year’s total of regulation home losses with their eighth this season. Alex Stalock made 29 saves as he set a career high in goals allowed in a game.

Blues 3, Avalanche 1

Jaden Schwartz had a goal and assist and St. Louis’ defense stifled Colorado.

Brian Elliott made 17 saves, T.J. Oshie scored and defenseman Carl Gunnarsson got his second goal of the season for the Blues. St. Louis has scored in a season-best eight consecutive games, going 7-0-1 in that stretch.

Alexander Steen had two assists, giving him 18 points during a 10-game points streak. Ken Hitchcock won his 153rd game with St. Louis, tied with Brian Sutter for second on the franchise list.

The Blues have won eight of nine at home against Colorado.

Matt Duchene scored for the Avalanche, who finished 1-2-2 on a five-game road trip.

Blue Jackets 3, Wild 1

James Wisniewski scored the go-ahead goal, had two assists and made a critical defensive play in the crease late in the third period to help Columbus beat Minnesota.

Brandon Dubinsky scored early for the Blue Jackets, and Scott Hartnell tipped in Wisniewski’s shot with 3:03 left to seal the victory for goalie Sergei Bobrovsky. The All-Star made 25 saves to improve to 5-1 in his career against the Wild and win for the first time in five starts. Bobrovsky posted a 3.55 goals-against average in those previous four losses.

Zach Parise scored for the Wild, who fell to 4-9-4 over their last 17 games.

Hurricanes 4, Maple Leafs 1

Eric Staal scored twice and Anton Khudobin stopped 34 shots to lead Carolina to a victory over Toronto.

Brad Malone and Elias Lindholm also scored for the Hurricanes, who improved to 6-2-1 this month.

Nazem Kadri scored with 5:11 remaining to end Khudobin’s shutout bid and end Toronto’s scoring drought at 162:14. The Maple Leafs, back home after a winless four-game trip, have lost five straight and fell to 1-6-0 under interim coach Peter Horachek.

The Hurricanes controlled play against the Leafs, chasing starting goalie Jonathan Bernier after he gave up Staal’s first goal in the opening minute of the second period. Bernier gave up three goals on 13 shots, and was replaced by James Reimer — who stopped all 18 shots he faced.

Staal capped the scoring with an empty-netter with 1:34 remaining in the game.

Canucks 2, Panthers 1

Radim Vrbata and Bo Horvat scored, Ryan Miller stopped 23 shots and Vancouver beat Florida.

Brandon Pirri spoiled Miller’s bid for a third straight shutout with 2:32 remaining, ending the goalie’s career-best scoreless streak at 200:45. Miller, who had blanked Philadelphia and Carolina in his last two starts, topped his previous best scoreless streak of 161:35, set in 2010 with Buffalo

Vancouver won its third straight and improved to 3-1 on a five-game road trip.

The Panthers have lost a season-worst four straight.

Vrbata put Vancouver ahead at 3:25 of the first period and Horvat doubled the lead at 8:03.

The Panthers outshot the Canucks 10-1 in the third period and finally got on the scoreboard when Pirri got the puck off the faceoff and fired a shot from above the right circle through traffic and past Miller.

Flames 2, Kings 1 (OT)

Dennis Wideman scored 4:08 into overtime, and Calgary rallied past Los Angeles for its fourth straight victory.

Sean Monahan tied it with 6:05 left in regulation for the Flames, who are unbeaten on their five-game Pacific Division road trip. Joni Ortio stopped 33 shots in his fourth straight win as Calgary moved past Los Angeles into the final playoff spot in the Western Conference with the victory.

Matt Greene scored midway through the third period and Jonathan Quick made 22 saves for the defending Stanley Cup champions, who wrapped up their seven-game homestand with a dismal 1-2-4 record and dropped out of the playoff picture.

Wideman’s goal wasn’t confirmed until video review confirmed his shot had ricocheted off the camera inside the net.